Deontay Wilder apparently has zero resolve to bury the hatchet with his nemesis Tyson Fury.
Wilder, the former heavyweight champion from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was involved in a thrilling trilogy with the WBC titlist from England. Their rivalry grew especially contentious heading into the third and final fight which took place last October; Wilder made numerous allegations that Fury cheated in their second fight — one accusation was that Fury had “loaded” his gloves — a view that Wilder evidently still steadfastly holds.
In a recent interview, Wilder was asked if he would have any interest in letting bygones be bygones with Fury because of how friendly he now was with another former opponent, the Cuban contender Luis Ortiz. Wilder was seen buddying up to Ortiz in the lead-up to Ortiz’s heavyweight fight with Andy Ruiz last weekend, which Ruiz won by decision. Wilder stopped Ortiz on two separate occasions: the first time in 2018, in the 10th round, and the second time in 2019, in the seventh.
Wilder’s response was clear: there won’t be any hugs and high fives with the Manchester native.
“Nah, never, because I know the truth behind that,” Wilder told FightHype.com. “I don’t condone cheating and sh!t like that. I know that no matter what people say.”
Wilder took issue with critics who insisted that he should have gone to “the authorities” if he felt so aggrieved by Fury’s alleged cheating. Wilder said, as a fighter, his natural inclination is to pursue retribution personally inside the ring, rather than offload the duty to someone else. Wilder and Fury fought to a draw in 2018, but Fury stopped Wilder in their second meeting in 2020 and did so again late in the third fight last year.
“It’s just like you got analysts that say ‘If he did have something in his glove why did you not go to the authorities?’” Wilder said. “I wish I was in front of them (the analysts) and I would grab their collar and put them close to my face so we can be eye to eye, face to face, so much that my breath touch their face, and I would tell them, ‘why the f— would I go to the authorities when I have an opportunity to release my own energy and put my hands up on on him in the possibility of trying to kill him and get paid millions of dollars doing it.’ Why would I go to the authorities?”
Wilder said he would not have personally benefited if he addressed the issues with a higher entity, because, in this view, Fury would then be “locked up”, effectively scuttling a payday.
“Ok [I] go to the authorities and they lock him up, then what’s next?” Wilder said. “That’s it. A good writeup. OK, we proved our case. Nobody getting fed. What justice has that done? That don’t make no sense. That [criticism] sounds like somebody is non-confrontational, that [is not involved] in combat sports because their mindset is not set on combat, it’s set on being nice or — that theory don’t even make sense to me. We are in the hurt business. This is what we do. I can hurt you and get paid doing it. That sounds like a sweet deal to me.”
Asked if he would be willing to fight Fury again in a fourth match, Wilder responded, “most definitely.”
“Who[ever’s] here, they bring a hell of a fight, let’s do it,” Wilder said. “You know me, I’ve never ducked or dodged anyone. I’m the one that blessed people with opportunities.”
Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) is set to fight for the first time in a year against Robert Helenius Oct. 15 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Fox Sports Pay-Per-View.